A Hierarchical Agency Model of Deposit Insurance

This paper develops a hierarchical agency model of deposit insurance. The main purpose is to undertake a game theoretic analysis of the consequences of deposit insurance schemes and their effects on monitoring incentives for banks. Using this simple framework, we analyze both risk- independent and risk-dependent premium schemes along with reserve requirement constraints. The results provide policymakers with not only a better understanding of the effects of deposit insurance on welfare and the problem of moral hazard, but also the policy implications implied in the design of de- posit insurance schemes. Our finding is consistent with the empirical research on depositor discipline.

Diffuser Augmented Wind Turbine Analysis Code

Wind Energy is becoming a significant source of energy throughout the world. This ever increasing field will potentially reach the limit of availability and practicality with the wind farm sites and size of the turbine itself. Therefore, it is necessary to develop innovative wind capturing devices that can produce energy in the locations where large conventional horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) are too impractical to install and operate. A diffuser augmented wind turbine (DAWT) is one such innovation. DAWTs increase the power output of the rotor by increasing the wind speed into the rotor using a duct. Currently, developing these turbines is an involved process using time consuming Computational Fluid Dynamics codes. A simple and quick design tool is necessary for designers to develop efficient energy capturing devices. This work lays out the theory for a quick analysis tool for DAWTs using an axisymmetric surface vorticity method. This method allows for quick analysis of duct, hubs and rotors giving designers a general idea of the power output of the proposed hub, blade and duct geometry. The method would be similar to the way blade element momentum theory is used to design conventional HAWTs. It is determined that the presented method is viable for preliminary design of DAWTs

The 2016 Olympic Games are already making headlines. Have any of our alumni ever competed in the Olympic Games?

Abbot Pennings answers a question about former students going on to the Olympics, archived from the SNC website

Cosmological Phase Transitions and their Properties in the NMSSM

We study cosmological phase transitions in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) in light of the Higgs discovery. We use an effective field theory approach to calculate the finite temperature effective potential, focusing on regions with significant tree-level contributions to the Higgs mass, a viable neutralino dark matter candidate, 1-2 TeV stops, and with the remaining particle spectrum compatible with current LHC searches and results. The phase transition structure in viable regions of parameter space exhibits a rich phenomenology, potentially giving rise to one- or two-step first-order phase transitions in the singlet and/or $SU(2)$ directions. We compute several parameters pertaining to the bubble wall profile, including the bubble wall width and $\Delta\beta$ (the variation of the ratio in Higgs vacuum expectation values across the wall). These quantities can vary significantly across small regions of parameter space and can be promising for successful electroweak baryogenesis. We estimate the wall velocity microphysically, taking into account the various sources of friction acting on the expanding bubble wall. Ultra-relativistic solutions to the bubble wall equations of motion typically exist when the electroweak phase transition features substantial supercooling. For somewhat weaker transitions, the bubble wall instead tends to be sub-luminal and, in fact, likely sub-sonic, suggesting that successful electroweak baryogenesis may indeed occur in regions of the NMSSM compatible with the Higgs discovery.Comment: 49 pages + 2 appendices, 6 figures. v2: Minor corrections; matches version published in JHE